Profits at Minnesota organic farms take big jump

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Profits at Minnesota’s organic farms took a big jump in 2012.

A report from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and the University of Minnesota’s Center for Farm Financial Management shows a median net income of just over $85,000 last year, more than double the $38,000 organic farms earned the year before.

But Minnesota Public Radio reports (http://bit.ly/19ioGHh ) organic profitability still falls short of the state’s conventional farms. The center says its study of conventional farmers showed an average profit last year of nearly $200,000 per farm.

Size was a big factor in the difference. Conventional farms in the study were on average more than twice as big as organic ones.

The one area where organic farmers beat conventional is the prices they’re paid for their crops and milk.